Need A New Spreadsheet

I'm still using Lotus 1-2-3, written in the 90s but still working (mostly) in Win 10. The only reason I'm still using it is because you can embed text in formulae and that makes reading a complex spreadsheet a heck of a lot easier. So +"apples"+2 +"pears"+3 works fine. In all other spreadsheets I've tried this produces an error. Does anyone know how to get a similar effect in Excel or know of another spreadsheet in which you can do this?

 

Hi Earthling,

Did you try LibreOffice Calc?

 

Here you go David -



I've tried many times over the years to crack this but it doesn't seem there is anything else that can do it. I actually prefer 1-2-3 to Excel in a number of ways but I feel I really need to get proficient with Excel and that won't happen until I start using it or a clone on a regular basis. I find it hard though to imagine using a spreadsheet that doesn't have this handy feature.

In the example, removing the quotes is interpreted as references to cells named apples and pears and would only give the answer 5 if both named cells had a value of zero.

 

Just about to install it in a Win 10 VM

 

It appeared to install OK but when I run it I just get a blank window, so reverting atm. It does look like a Excel clone so very unlikely it can do what I need. Did you test this function yourself?

 

No, I didn't test it myself. I don't run VM either so, I don't know what the issue is there. I just offered it as a suggestion. The other would have been OpenOffice.

 

OK, OpenOffice is another Excel clone and it definitely doesn't work in that. Looks to me like the need to be Excel compatible has restricted the development of spreadsheets. Pity MS rather than Lotus/IBM won the spreadsheet battle. Not the first time superior marketing has downed a superior product.

 

FYI...
LibreOffice is based on OpenOffice.
OpenOffice is now Apache OpenOffice.
OpenOffice Premium is now OxygenOffice Professional.

That latter is not as actively developed/supported as the former two.
If the unusual function/feature Earthling requires isn't available in MSO Excel, it wont be available in the former two.

The same happened to WordPerfect.

 

This is the best answer I can come up with.



I currently use SSuite Accel Spreadsheet and it seems to be able to do what you are looking for. Instead of using quotes, brackets seem to work just perfectly.

This spreadsheet is also listed here at MajorGeeks for download.

I hope this works for you.

 

Sorry to disappoint, but the above example does not work, I forgot to delete the cells named pears and apples, tried again on a new spreadsheet, does NOT work.

My apologies. Unless you add the named cells for your descriptions, it does not work!

 

Thanks for the effort 1-2-3 suddenly stopped showing graphs on my main Win 10 system and I've had to change it to run in compatibility mode for Windows 98 to get them back. Oddly though my laptop Win 10 still shows them when running in normal mode. Both systems are fully updated. Given its age I guess I'm lucky it runs at all but boy, will I miss it if it becomes unusable. Loads of really serious stuff on it - I'm an accountant.

 

David, after a lifetime in this business nothing about people and their money ever surprises you.